Abramov came up a moment later, and he wasn’t happy.
I sighed, “Sergei, enough. It was a good plan, for someone without any scruples or a soul, but it failed. Surrender now and start ferrying people to the surface, before anyone actually dies.”
He shook his head, “I won’t surrender to you, traitor. This was your plan all along wasn’t it?”
I… had no idea what to say to that one. Was he deluded? Or was this just another tactic?
Nadia snorted, “Sergei, you’re a moron. Every step of this has been Earth pushing and pushing. If you’d just let her go this wouldn’t have happened. Or better yet, not tried to control her in the first place, and we might have had her latest tech, instead of Earth being defeated by it.”
Okay, based on what Nadia had said, I was guessing that first one, deluded.
I disconnected from him and said, “Al, connect me to Anthony.”
I tried to smile for my old friend, when he came on the screen, but I just couldn’t manage it.
“Hey Anthony.”
He nodded, “What is it you want Alicia?”
I sighed, “Sanity?” and then immediately regretted the quip, no matter how true it was.
I said, “Earth played the same game it always had on the ground, up in space, and this has been the result. Right now things are pretty grim, but no one has died yet, and throwing away lives won’t change the fact Earth will be quarantined now for fifty years. Will you surrender and get your people to the surface? I mean, if you were in command?”
Anthony’s eyes narrowed, “I would, though they’d probably shoot me afterward. We’re under strict orders to win and not surrender under any circumstances. Still, either way I’m a dead man, but I can save the rest of them.”
I frowned, “Maybe. But the Earth will learn the president threw away fifty years of their future to keep her ass in the oval office, not to mention the other leaders. It will get obscured in rhetoric and lies of course, but maybe she’ll be so busy covering her own backside that you’ll make it.”
He snorted.
“You were always naïve Alicia, that’s why I thought this whole thing was so stupid. You’d have never betrayed us.”
I sighed, really tired of hearing that word.
“Naïve? Maybe, but I have fifty worlds of naïve beings behind me, demanding Earth pay for its actions. Perhaps when the Earth grows up a bit, they’ll discover honor and integrity aren’t just naïve concepts to put on cute wall posters. That it’s not okay that those in power have no accountability. Until then…” I shrugged and shut my mouth, there was no point, he was already willing to surrender and I didn’t want to talk him out of it.
Plus, Earth didn’t lack honor and integrity as a whole, but quite often it was the power hungry individuals that abused such concepts to control the masses, instead of respecting them for it.
“Al, destroy Sergei’s ship.”
Al replied, “Negative, Sergei has moved his ship too close to Earth, the resulting release of Dark Energy would render Earth uninhabitable.”
And I’d thought my day couldn’t get any worse. What the hell was he thinking? Was he using the Earth as a shield now? Kristi’s gravity weapon would have come in handy about now, at a reduced strength it could have killed Sergei without destroying the ship, and then towed it away from Earth. Of course, we didn’t have it, and the gravity emitters on the probes weren’t strong enough.
“Can we shield Earth using some of the probes?”
Al replied, “Possible, but there’s an unacceptable three percent margin of error.”
What if we surrounded him with probes and took his whole ship into subspace? In theory it would work, but if I was wrong, it was better not to risk it. For all I knew the Dark energy would destroy the part of Earth in subspace, doing… who knows what to the physical Earth in normal space. There was a lot left to learn, now I had a few new ideas to experiment with, but out in the void, and certainly not now.
Still, I doubted he’d hold the world he was protecting hostage, that seemed absurd, even if it would work. Most likely it was just a delay, but a delay to do what?
Al said, “Dral is transmitting.”
Dral said, “What are your intentions, you are clearly out matched, and now you put your own planet at risk? Head my words. Surrender Admiral Abramov, before your folly leads your planet to destruction.”
Huh, apparently he was aware of what would happen as well were Sergei’s ship to be destroyed right now. Not surprising, since we shared the information on what a dark energy missile would have done to Minerva had it reached the station. I also hoped Anthony was trying to talk him down, but I wouldn’t be able to see any internal discussions to Earth fleet.
Sergei replied voice only, “I’ll see you in hell,” and several things happened at once.
Sergei’s ship went to light speed, and there was a flash of bright white light ten miles in front of the ship. Had he just tried to ram us?
“Al?”
Al cleared his throat, an affectation he really seemed to enjoy using.
“The Admiral’s ship tried to ram us at several thousand times the speed of light. It was vaporized when it hit the edges of our shields.”
I frowned, “Why would he do that?”
Al replied, “Perhaps he believed the dark energy would kill us, while it does seem to be immune from the destructive energies of subspace, so too is subspace a shield against dark energy. But he had no way to know that. If it had destroyed us, our forces would have been stalled, allowing the Earth ships to fight the other worlds with a free hand. No doubt the gamble was a last desperate act in hope for victory.”
I nodded slowly, that did seem to be the case. Luckily, the rest of my allies were skittish enough around my ship that they’d give it wide berth, so they were safe from the Dark Energy as well. The Dark Energy would be reabsorbed back into the universe quickly, so it wouldn’t be a hazard for long.
A hologram of Kristi appeared, “Don’t count on it, I’d have taken control of our assets remotely and squashed the bastards if I’d lost you. I’ve been… watching, and feeling guilty for not being at your side.”
I nodded slowly, “I miss you too, but we’re world rulers now, and we can’t afford to risk us both in this type of thing anymore.”
Kristi nodded reluctantly in agreement, “I know, that’s why I’m not there right now, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
Al announced, “Incoming transmission from Admiral Anthony Flores.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Anthony looked rather grim, but his voice was steady.
“I’m ordering all ships to stand down, and will start to take people down to the surface. Once a ship is emptied it will move to and self-destruct at the following coordinates,” coordinates came through.
He added, “We won’t forget this day,” and then he disconnected.
That’s what I was afraid of, that they wouldn’t learn and just cause more problems in fifty years in some misguided attempt at revenge, we’d have to wait and see. I relaxed a little, as we watched shuttles and troop transports leave the ships, and the ships start to move out of the solar system to self-destruct in the void between stars. It was safer that way. From what I could tell they were simply turning off the DE reactor and allowing the energy touch the sides of the reactor casing causing a low level nuclear explosion.
I don’t think anyone was particularly happy with today’s events, I knew I wasn’t. It was such a waste. When it was finished, and the Earth fleet was destroyed, the treaty fleet broke up and I returned the Snoopy probes back to their assigned galaxies. I didn’t think any of the humanoid races would attack Earth, but I did have the six platforms still in the galaxy, and I’d be paying attention.
There was still a lot left to do, a lot left to learn, and I’d be relatively young for my race when Earth could join us out here in the stars again. It wasn’t perfect, but I had my family, a husband, and good friends with me including
my best friend Kristi. I also had a large community of scientists, which I had no doubt would grow larger. Who knew what would come next, or what discoveries would be made?
Al asked, “Do you have a moment?”
“What is it Al?”
Al replied, “The Nairan have just successfully tested their first FTL drive.”
“Huh, that sounds really interesting.”
It would be kind of fun to go check it out, and say hi, now that they could join us. But I had other priorities right now, someone else would have to deal with the Nairan and first contact. I was too busy with something far more important.
“Al, return to Minerva to drop off Nadia.”
Nadia tilted her head, “What are you going to do?”
I smiled and looked up at Bill.
“Honeymoon, and it better not be interrupted this time.”
If there was only some wood on this damned ship to knock on…
Afterword:
I hope you enjoyed Alicia’s story. This was the last planned book in the Alicia Jones series, I don’t think there will be any more following. Her story is pretty much done. That said, if I think of something else down the line, I wouldn’t hesitate to write it, but I refuse to milk the series, this one or any other.
This book got a little more into politics than I’d planned, and even the end of it kind of wrote itself. Regardless, I tried to stay away from party politics and generalized as much as possible, I have no political statements to make, but it seemed unavoidable from Alicia’s point of view and the nature of the story that unfolded. I tried to limit it to simply the corruption of power.
The ending was also a conflicted point to me. I like stories where the Earth and humanity is the hero, and in this six book series the earth, along with Alicia, was the hero. Unfortunately, they were also the villain… Still, I tried to leave enough hope, several human colonies are still in the game, and in fifty years, who knows what could happen?
About the Author: If you have any comments or suggestions you can send me an email at [email protected] If you like my work, or even if you don’t, please consider leaving a review of this book. I can also be found at https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7456808.D_L_Harrison
Other books by D. L. Harrison:
http://www.amazon.com/author/dlharrison
The Formerly Dark Mage, by D. L. Harrison – This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Silvia and takes place in a world unique and separate to our own.
Silvia is a dark mage. Unfortunately, she finds herself about to be sacrificed. Someone must have told her evil master about her plans to kill him and take over. After that, things just seem to go downhill. She has no choice but to escape the kingdom of Zual, something that to her knowledge has never been done before. She will need to deal with many issues she never had to face before.
Among those issues, the white mages, and her conscience.
Celia Winters Novel Series
Witch’s Moon: A Celia Winters Novel Book 1
Celia Winters was raised by her single mother, and her earliest memories are of the store her mother owns and the nearby coven, who have always been her family’s close allies and friends.
She grew up believing her magic was weak, but she was satisfied with her life, and happy. She was a midwife, healer, and supplier of surrounding covens.
Then her mother died, and she’s about to discover she isn’t who, or what, she believes herself to be, not completely. She will learn that her entire life up until now was a lie. She’ll need to figure out her place, who she is when she no longer recognizes herself, and try to hold on to her closest friends as she gathers enemies for the simple crime of her existence.
She’s stronger than she believes, but will it be enough?
Power of Air Series:
Just a Psychic: The Power of Air Book One starts off this series.
Ben has grown up with missing memories of his early childhood.
He has known he was a psychic since his earliest memories, seeing the future and gaining knowledge with his gifts.
Is it possible he isn't just a psychic?
Ben's world is about to be turned upside down as he turns twenty-one, all is not as it seems.
Alicia Jones novels is a series that follows a bright young inventor and scientist named Alicia Jones. It is a space opera and light science fiction.
The first book is titled First Contact:
Alicia Jones is a genius, and a little odd. At just twenty-three years of age, she is close to finishing her doctoral dissertation. But when she tests her latest theory in the lab to generate a strong EM field, it has very unanticipated results. Results that lead to faster than light travel, and first contact with another race.
Her life just gets more complicated after that, when she finds out who she really is, and that the universe may not be as nice a place as she’d been told. Her determination to help keep Earth safe takes her to places more dangerous and strange than she’d ever envisioned.
Spirit Sorceress series, by D. L. Harrison is a new urban fantasy series. Miku is a spirit sorceress who spent the last one hundred years growing up and learning about her power in the forests near Seattle Washington. She’s about to make her debut in the big city, but not in a way she ever expected.
The first book is titled Spirit Sorceress:
Miku is a spirit sorceress who spent her unusually long childhood in the forest away from the city with her mother and father. After tragedy strikes, she finds herself alone and on her own. She knows that one day she’ll need to move to Seattle, and fully accept her birthright, and if necessary finish her training on her own.
But before she’s ready, and still in grieving, a rogue vampire and his band come along and change everything. She’ll need to learn her new place in the world, and find some allies quick if she’s to survive.
*** Coming Soon***
Katrina Baker Novels, by D. L. Harrison is a new series about a super named Katrina Baker. Problem is, she gets caught up in her mother’s plan, who is a mad scientist and supervillain, and gets herself transported to another world in the multi-verse. A world where mages, witches, clerics, and the gods are real. Not to mention the monsters…
The first book is titled Banished:
Katrina baker is a super. She has mental abilities such as telekinesis, telepathy, and others. Her parents are supervillains, and she isn’t all that sure she’s cut out for that line of work. Her empathy with others through her power makes it hard to be uncaring, much less act mean or evil to people. Problem is, the last thing she wants to do is disappoint mom and dad.
Katrina gets caught up in her mother’s supervillain plot to rid the world of the indestructible hero Omega, and that’s when it all goes really wrong, and she finds herself on another world.
Banished.
Will she be able to find her way back home, or even understand this new world of gods and magic, or will she die trying?
The Rise of a Dark Mage - This stand-alone fantasy book follows the life of Cassandra, it takes place in the same world as The Formerly Dark Mage, but happens three hundred years later, long after Silvia is gone and some shocking changes have taken place in the world.
Cassandra is a dark mage in the kingdom of Zual, she’s also a mage prodigy.
She hates both her kingdom, and her master. She wants him dead, not to take his place, but so that she can leave and explore the world. Her ambition will drive her to rediscover the secrets of the strongest of magic.
She is determined to succeed, or she’ll die trying.
Book Description
Alicia’s life has gotten rather complicated, as she had to flee Earth and make a new start. She didn’t want to play the political games with the rulers of Earth, to submit to their overbearing control, or to even fight back. She chose a different path and went her own way.
It’s a month later, and the first batch of scientists have just arrived on Minerva station. She has many issues to face trying t
o establish and run a new world. If that wasn’t difficult enough, she also has some challenges from without.
Unfortunately for Alicia, Earth’s leadership has a hard time letting go of things.
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